


Rip Week 2019

by AgentMaryMargaretSkitz



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst, More tags to be added, Rip Week, Science Experiments, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-18 21:57:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19343461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz/pseuds/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz
Summary: A place to put the Rip fics that I might end up writing during Rip Week





	1. Always Within

_Snap_.

               Rip’s breath caught in the back of his throat as he woke up. His hand was lying on the empty sheets in front of him, not wrapped around Sara’s neck. It had all been a nightmare, just another one of the new ones that joined the usual rotation. At least it wasn’t one of the worse ones again.

               Sitting up, he snuck out of his room and towards the ship’s bathroom. It was fortunately unoccupied, so he shut himself inside. Turning on the faucet, Rip splashed a few handfuls of cold water onto his face to wake up a bit more. There was no way that he could go back to sleep now. Besides, the cold reminded him that this was real, that his mind was his own. He was not a puppet for the Legion of Doom anymore.

               He hadn’t really been Rip Hunter for a while. There had been a blissful ignorant period of being Phil. A man who just wanted to make a successful film and wasn’t burdened by his failures. That illusion had been shattered when the Legion broke through the block and reprogrammed him. His mind was pulled apart and stitched back together into something else. He was Rip Hunter again, but one with strings. Strings that were pulled by the Legion of Doom so he could collect the pieces of the Spear of Destiny. Had the Legends and Gideon not pulled him out of his own mind, that puppet would be all remained.

               The Legends operated off the belief that he’d been brainwashed into doing evil, which wasn’t completely inaccurate. True, he had done things that were out of character of the man they knew. But what the Legion had done was something much worse. They had gone into his mind and unleashed the darkness that he kept locked up so tightly. The darkness he never wanted out in the open.

               It was not the Legion who had put the darkness there. Rip knew it had been there since he was taken in as a child to the Refuge. Every lesson and training exercise had introduced him to it and started weaving it into the fabric of his personality. The older he got, the more darkness was fed into him through missions and seeing the ugly face of the world and time itself. Rip managed to lock it up with Miranda and Jonas in his life and tried to focus more on seeing light and good whenever it peeked out of the black hole of pain and misery.

               When his wife and child were taken away from him by Vandal Savage, the cage his darkness resided in cracked and spilled out. Assembling the Legends managed to get him back on track and remember who he was supposed to be. Even though he failed his family (not to mention Leonard Snart) in the end, Rip hadn’t let himself be tainted with the evil inside. He was not a perfect nor good man, but he tried to be. That seemed to be enough in this universe.

               The Legion had let all the darkness, all the spite, all the evil out of the box and into himself. What he’d been like with the Legion had been the unchecked version of himself. A monster of a man who killed old friends without remorse. That Rip had not felt guilt or regret. Now that he was back to himself, the darkness once again contained, he felt it all.

Staring at his reflection, Rip wondered what was next for him. He was no longer captain of the ship. His status as a Legend was in flux. Regardless of that, he would do all he could to stop the Legion of Doom from altering reality. He had set the Legends on this quest with their search for him, but he would be there until his last breath to finish it.

After that…he didn’t know. All Rip Hunter knew was that he could never let the dark side of himself out again. He could never rid himself of it. There was no way scrubbing away such deep-seated darkness.

The only solution to it was to control it. If he let it out on his own with no one pulling the strings, then who knew what it could mean for time?


	2. Transference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 3: Unusual Friendships
> 
> How Rip Hunter brought Gary to the Bureau

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was once a theory of Gary being a former AI in a human body. IncendiaGlacies and I have had some fun with that theory in another idea, but I got hit with the angst here for Rip Week. I've always been deathly curious about why Gary was recruited to the Bureau, so I decided to explore something. In the process, I took influences from Agents of SHIELD and Humans and thus made myself cry.
> 
> (Wrote it to this music if you want a dose of feels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLD7nFdwYlk )

“Is everything ready to go?”

The lead scientist nodded in response to Rip’s question. “Director Hunter, please remember this is entirely experimental. This might not be successful.”

“I am well aware of that,” Rip sighed as he stared at the sheet covering the body on the slab. “The body will be able to sustain the consciousness?”

“Again, this is experimental. We are wading right into uncharted territory.”

Rip nodded. “You’re correct. Let’s get this started.”

He set the containment box on the table and opened it. Looking at the core reminded him of how far he had come from being a cadet for the Time Masters to the director of the Time Bureau. It had been a long and painful journey, but he had survived so far. Gary had been a good AI and it was fortunate that some of the remaining Time Masters had rescued him for Bureau use. Still, there was a sliver of guilt knowing he was using Gary as a test subject to see if this process was viable.

“Gary?” he asked, activating the AI. “Are you awake?”

“Hello, Captain Hunter,” the AI replied. “Updating systems…Director Rip Hunter of the Time Bureau. It has been a long time.”

A smile crept across Rip’s face. “Indeed, it has. Listen, we’re going to try something with you. Think of it as being uploaded to a new ship…except not quite that. It could hurt a bit.”

“Artificial Intelligence cannot feel pain.”

Rip’s smile fell as he set the core in the uploader. “That’s the spirit.”

               He and the other scientists retreated out of the room and into the observation chamber. The machine connecting Gary to the new human body fired up. Everyone leaned a little closer to the glass, curious to see what would happen. Sparks flew and the body jerked twice before it stopped. Rip opened the door despite the head scientist’s protests to see if it had worked. As he approached the table, the body on it sat upright and the sheet covering it slipped down.

“Gary?” Rip asked cautiously, studying the curly-haired man staring around the room with large brown eyes. “Can you hear me?”

“Director Hunter,” the AI nodded, bringing his hands up and studying them. “I felt pain. I feel cold. What’s happened?”

“You’re human, Gary. Welcome to the Time Bureau.”

* * *

 

“Perfect marksmanship,” Rip complemented as the target was brought in. “Gary, that’s incredible.”

“I am artificial intelligence,” Gary replied. “I know the mechanics of the weapons and the way in which they are used. Then I can calculate trajectory, distance, and any opposing factors acting on the bullet and-”

“I know, Gary,” Rip patted his shoulder. “You’ll be field ready soon, although we need to find you a last name.”

“Are you going to make other AIs human?”

Rip hadn’t expected that question. “I would like to. We still have some that were saved from the Vanishing Point.”

“Did you save Gideon?” Gary asked, reloading the clip. “You were always partial to her.”

“She’s still aboard the Waverider, but is deactivated,” Rip told him honestly. “You’re the first of something new, Gary. We want to make sure everything is okay before we upload other artificial intelligences into human bodies. If things go well with you, and I hope they will, then the others will also get human bodies, Gideon included.”

Truth be told, he had deactivated Gideon partially because he knew she wouldn’t approve of him using Gary as an experiment. She would have been too eager to volunteer, but he was too selfish to let that happen. If something went wrong, he would rather it happen to another AI first.

“I hope that I’m successful,” Gary told him. “I don’t want to be the only one of my kind like this.”

“Don’t worry, Gary,” Rip assured her. “You won’t be alone.”

* * *

 

“Gary?”

Gary looked up quickly. “Hello, Director Hunter. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Just wanted to check in,” Rip took a seat across from Gary’s desk. “I heard there was a problem during the training exercise today.”

“There was. It was already addressed in the debrief.”

“Gary,” Rip leaned forward on the desk. “In the exercise, you caused what’s equivalent to cabin depressurization. The drop was so extreme that had it been real, Time Agents would have died instantly.”

“I know, and I’m-I’m sorry,” Gary stammered. He’d never done that before.

“Are you feeling alright, Gary?” Rip asked, knitting his brows as he took in the messy space on the desk. “You can tell me.”

The human AI’s smile was shaky. “I feel fine.”

Rip pressed his lips together and nodded slowly. However, the messy state of Gary’s desk was telling him things were otherwise. A week ago, everything was filed neatly and properly. Now, papers were askew across the desk, disorganized even by human standards. Even more so, the writing on them was not always English consistently. One sentence would be, but then next was in something completely different. German, Japanese, Russian, Swahili, even something that looked like the language of the Speed Force.

Something wasn’t right.

* * *

 

               It took another week and a half before things got out of hand. Gary started talking and rambling to himself, going off about things related and unrelated to the Bureau. After they discovered him writing timeline events along the bathroom walls, something had to be done. So Rip and the team of scientists working on the AI integration project had to pull him from active duty and keep him in containment for observation. Things had not improved much since then. He was still writing in different languages and babbling in them, although his vision was starting to show decline.

“We thought the integration worked fine, but we underestimated the informational capacity of artificial intelligence residing in a human brain,” the lead scientist told Rip as they watching Gary writing in French about a unicorn massacring people at Woodstock, which aside from being preposterous, had never occurred. “There’s too much information in his head. He can’t cope with all his knowledge acquired from when he was just a core. Coupled with the experience of adjusting to a human body, it’s creating a traumatic environment for him. If we keep him like this and the rate of decline remains the same, he will eventually die.”

“So what do we do to help?”

“We have to terminate the project, which unfortunately means terminating Gary.”

“No,” Rip snarled, whirling away from where he was watching Gary. “We aren’t killing him. He’s not an AI anymore. He is a human being who can feel pain and is suffering because of my idea. There has to be another way.”

The scientist sighed. “We still have to terminate the project, but there might be a way to save him.”

“Tell me.”

“There’s experimental technology that targets brainwaves. It can be used to rewrite memories, specifically traumatic ones. In theory, if we develop a treatment procedure for Gary, we stop the decline by making him forget about this ordeal. He’ll believe he was always human.”

“But what about his memories from when he was an AI?” Rip questioned, looking back to Gary, who had changed over to Korean. “Will he have those?”

“It was a traumatic procedure and adjustment period,” the scientist sounded apologetic. “Director, he’s going to have to forget everything about being an AI. We basically tried to upload a file that was too big for submission. We have to compress and trim information away to fit within the constraints of the human brain. Should this work, he will be very intelligent by human standards, but he will not retain AI memories. Instead, we need to manufacture memories of childhood and adulthood in his brainwaves, so he doesn’t become suspicious.”

Rip’s heart sank. In order to save Gary, they were going to have to take away what made him so unique. He and Gary would no longer have that shared connection of the Time Masters, of Miranda. But was that connection worth it if it was driving Gary insane? He hated making calls like these when no option was the ideal pick.

“How long will it take for you to rewrite his memories?” he sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Not to mention get all the necessary equipment you need?”

“If my team works around the clock, probably a week.”

“Then do it,” Rip ordered. “After we rewrite his memories, the project is to be terminated. No more AI uploads, no more bodies. It’s too much for them. I already took their home away from them. I shouldn’t be taking anything else.”

* * *

 

“Gary, I need to tell you something.”

Gary put down the marker he’d been writing with and turned to stare at Rip. The glasses they’d given him to help with his vision made him look somewhat owlish. While the memory rewrite was going to help him, it couldn’t fix his vision even if it did stop the degradation. But Rip had to admit they did suit him.

“It’s about what’s wrong with me, isn’t it?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Rip nodded. “I shouldn’t have forced you into a human body. Gideon’s wanted one, but I didn’t know if it would work or not. So I used you first to see if it would work, and if I could replicate the process with her and other AIs. But I bit off more than I could chew, and you got hurt.”

“There’s too much in here,” Gary said in Swedish, pointing to his head, making Rip glad he still had a universal translator.

“Yeah. AI brains aren’t meant for human bodies. That’s why you started making mistakes and writing about the timeline.”

“You need to be careful of Zambesi.”

“I’ll try to remember that. We’re going to stop the writing, Gary. There’s a machine that’s going to lock onto your brainwaves and give you your life back. You can live as a human and be okay. Unfortunately, there are going to be side effects.”

“It makes me forget I’m an AI,” Gary finished. “I have to forget if I want to live.”

“You do want to live, right?” Rip asked softly, mentally kicking himself for not even thinking to ask for Gary’s input sooner. “I don’t want to force you into something that makes you miserable.”

“I want to be human,” Gary answered. “I liked being human before this happened. I’m not ready to die.”

Rip smiled, remembering how Gideon had told him something similar long ago. “That’s good, Gary. I’m happy to hear that.”

“I like the Time Bureau. You’re a good leader here. You’re much better than the Time Masters, Captain Hunter.”

“I haven’t been captain for a long time, Gary.”

“Gideon still thinks so,” Gary told him. “AIs were linked. She always saw you as her captain, no matter what. Even while she’s sleeping, she still thinks you as the captain.”

He chuckled. “Of course she does. We’ve known each other too long.”

“Don’t make her human,” Gary warned him. “Not unless you can perfect this process. No more uploads.”

“We’re not going to,” Rip promised. “I’m sorry, Gary. I know I promised you wouldn’t be alone, but you’re going to be one of a kind after all. Although there is one last thing we can do for you.”

“Tell me.”

“When you’re human, you’ll need a last name. We didn’t quite get to that stage yet before this happened, but we’ll need one for the construction of your human memories.”

Gary was silent for a moment. “Green.”

“Green?”

“Time Master Yasmin Green was my first operator. She was like you; driven, resilient, kind. It’d be a fitting tribute to her.”

“Gary Green,” Rip murmured. “That’s a good name. Suits you.”

“Thank you,” Gary grinned slowly. “This is the last time I’m going to see you while I remember, isn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so. They’re going to start putting you through the procedure within the hour. After that, we’ll be like strangers…meeting for the first time. At least, that’s what it’ll be like for you.”

“But I’ll be alive. I might lose most of my knowledge, but I’ll be sane again with my mind back. Don’t worry. Just do one thing for me.”

“Tell me.”

“Look after Gideon and the others.”

“She’s very capable of watching herself,” Rip reminded him. “Her language, not so much.”

“I’m aware that my sister isn’t helpless. Still, make sure she’s okay.”

“I will,” the former Time Master promised, standing up from the chair he’d been in. “Goodbye, Gary.”

“Goodbye, Captain Hunter.”

Rip couldn’t help but give him one quick hug before turning his back and walking out the door. As soon as he was in the clear, he ducked into the bathroom and closed a stall door behind him. He inhaled, exhaled, then wound up his arm and punched the metal door. The AI who had brought Miranda and him together was going to be gone soon. He’d still be there, but it would be a different Gary to get to know and it wouldn’t be the same. Yet again, Rip had lost someone from his life.

He couldn’t face Gideon with this. She could never know what he’d done to Gary. He was too ashamed of what he’d done.

Gritting his teeth, he continued to punch the door until his knuckles bled. He deserved the pain.

* * *

 

_Two weeks later_

“Agent Green, there’s someone here to see you.”

“Me?” Gary Green frowned as the agent left as quickly as they’d come. No one ever wanted to see him. If the FBI needed analytics consult, they went to Hudson or McKenna. Never him.

“You must be Agent Green,” the clean-shaven man who had been brought in was smiling at him. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Uh, yeah, Gary Green,” he held out his hand, forgetting that he had been using it to balance his coffee mug on the files and nearly dousing himself in hot coffee. “Sorry, I’m a little clumsy. Can I help you with something?”

“Yes, but not here.”

Gary frowned. “I thought you were here for a case? We have everything on the computer.”

“No, not quite that,” the man shook his head. “My name’s Rip Hunter. I’m here to offer you a job within my agency.”

“You’re not FBI?”

Rip Hunter chuckled, but there was something sad in it. “We operate much broader than the FBI. Trust me, I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say about the Time Bureau.”

“Time Bureau?” Gary raised an eyebrow. “Never heard of it.”

“You will soon. A man of your talents would be a much better asset to the world instead of being stuck in the FBI’s basement.”

Gary looked around the room before nodding. “Okay. But…why me?”

“I have a good feeling about you. Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

“Um, yeah,” Gary pushed his glasses up. “The break room’s empty right now. And I know this is weird, but did you use to work here? Because there’s something familiar about you. Are you getting that too?”

Rip Hunter paused for a long moment before shaking his head. “I’m afraid we’ve never met before, Agent Green.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully I can crank out a few more fics for Rip Week. But kudos and reviews are appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated


End file.
